Designing Products and Strategy to Electrify Victorian Homes

Victoria's State Electricity Commission was privatised in the mid-1990s under the premise that competition would deliver better outcomes. Three decades later, rising prices and the complexity of electrification proved that wrong — and in 2023, the Victorian government re-established the SEC to democratise energy choices and reduce bills.But the new SEC had no customers, no products, and no evidence base for how households make electrification decisions. Retailers, manufacturers, regulators, and grid operators all influence whether a household switches from gas to electric. The SEC needed to understand its customers, map the system, and design compelling products from scratch.

Paper Giant designed three connected engagements that built the SEC's strategic foundations from the ground up. Consumer research with 18 Victorian homeowners explored how people plan home modifications and make electrification decisions — producing insight frameworks, customer mindset segments, and three product propositions with business models. A systems mapping engagement with experts across advocacy, manufacturing, distribution, retail, and regulation charted the dynamics influencing energy resource uptake. And an experience strategy for the Powerup Platform — the SEC's first digital product — delivered a vision, principles, experience map, and wireframes that guided the platform to beta launch in June 2024.

These three engagements transformed the SEC from an entity with a broad mandate into an organisation with a clear, evidence-based strategy for reaching Victorian households. Customer research revealed that hot water heat pumps are kept "out of sight and mind" with no connection to how people plan renovations, fundamentally reshaping the SEC's product positioning. The systems map identified where the SEC could intervene most effectively across consumers, retailers, manufacturers, and regulators. And the Powerup Platform launched in beta, giving Victorians their first publicly owned resource for navigating household electrification.

Deep consumer insight into electrification decisions: Ninety-minute interviews with 18 homeowners produced original frameworks for understanding how people plan home changes. A Motivation × Trigger matrix revealed four customer mindsets — Pragmatists, Doer-ups, Fixer-ups, and Opportunists — each requiring distinct product propositions and messaging strategies. The research identified 14 barriers across finance, product, and process that must be addressed to accelerate uptake.Systems mapping of the energy sector: Expert interviews across consumer advocacy, government, manufacturing, energy distribution, retail, and regulation produced a comprehensive systems map with two hemispheres — Purchase and Participation — showing how consumer energy resources flow from acquisition to grid-level orchestration. Key stories were extracted to identify intervention opportunities.Three evidence-based product propositions: "Make it back" (a cost calculator and comparison tool), "Add it on" (renovation partnerships with retailers), and "Pump it up" (community demonstrations in readied areas) — each with step-by-step mechanics, value exchange diagrams, revenue pathways, and learning objectives for validation.From strategy to launched product: The Powerup Platform experience strategy translated research insights into a vision, four principles, a multi-actor experience map, and progressive wireframes — guiding the platform from concept to beta launch within the engagement period.